


Armor

by holless



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, allura and pidge become bffs in like 30 minutes, i spend so long writing this but its still rly bad, it mentions menstruation if that bothers you, not really meant to be inappropriate but if that bothers you i mean, rapid pace relationship development, sorry - Freeform, talks about anatomy and stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 05:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10429962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holless/pseuds/holless
Summary: Pidge notices she's growing out of her armor and has to ask Allura for help. Quality bonding moments ensue.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is really bad and i apologize im still trying to figure out how the fuck to write

Pidge was absolutely certain of at least one thing. Being the only female paladin sucked. Though the paladins of Voltron probably consisted of plenty girls in the past, she was the only one right now, and it was very inconvenient.

She wasn't entirely sure if it was more difficult to ask, or figure out who to ask. She had thought through every possible route multiple times, and really couldn't come to a logical conclusion.

Her first option was Lance. She almost visibly shuddered at the thought. Pidge had eventually realized that Lance's obnoxious ego was a bit of a cover-up, and that he was actually quite sensitive - maybe even sweet. But that doesn't mean he ever made an effort to _show_ that side of himself, and going to him would probably be more of a setback than an advancement. Plus she wasn't sure she could trust him not to tell everyone else. Though she knew somewhere in her mind that her situation really wasn't _that_ embarrassing, the rest of her mind couldn't seen to catch up. Yeah, Lance was a no-go.

Another option was Keith. If she almost visibly shuddered about telling Lance, she quite obviously shuddered at the alternative. Though Pidge knew she could trust Keith to help her any way he could, and she knew he wouldn't go spreading her admission to the rest of the team, they didn't quite have the best relationship. There were no negative feelings, but even after living and fighting together with him for an entire year, they hadn't managed to get very close. Pidge made a mental note - _become better friends with Keith._ She wasn't at all prepared for all the ensuing awkwardness, inevitable if Pidge went to him first.

The next option was Hunk. He was actually a very good option. They got along well and she often went to him in times of stress - that wasn't actually saying much, the entire team probably went to Hunk in times of stress. But he was trustworthy, and would definitely try to help her out... however she doubted Hunk could keep something, regardless how small, from the other paladins if his life depended on it.

Shiro was definitely someone to be considered as well. He would always try to be there for the rest of them, even to accommodate for the most trivial things - even to the point where he was often stretched thin and at a pretty high risk of breaking down. That only needed to happen once for everyone to realize their mistakes, and it left Pidge a bit hesitant to go to him for help - though she knew he would object to her hesitance. Every resident of the Castle-ship was well aware that Shiro's mental state since his capture on Kerberos left much to be desired, and they had been excruciatingly careful to avoid pushing him past his limit. Therefore, even if Pidge's burden was diminutive, it was a burden nonetheless and asking for Shiro's help was pretty much a last resort.

Pidge found herself wondering how she even got into this situation, but reminded herself that it had to happen sooner or later. Since the initial incident the day before, Pidge had asked dozens of questions - being sure to cunningly avoid suspicion - as to how the standard paladin armor functioned. Coran and Allura had answered blithely- Coran and Allura! How hadn't Pidge thought of this - her options as to who to ask for help weren't exhausted yet.

Pidge recalled the initial incident once more. They were on a mission, infiltrating some relatively unequipped Galra ship to find information on the exact location of Zarkon. Pidge was rather confused as to _why_ they were doing this - it seemed like it would be rather difficult to waltz into the emperor's quarters and shoot him dead (even if Pidge wished it was that simple.) But Pidge rarely expressed much interest in the long term plans, preferring to accomplish objectives one at a time and leave strategizing to her leaders. So that's what she was doing, pursuing information once goal at a time. Current step? climb through an air vent with the Blue Paladin, the elder going first to snipe any lingering Galra troops in the room. Next step? Hack into a Galra computer, search for message records between Galra bases, and more specifically, coordinates. That seemed pretty difficult - Pidge was well aware that her team knew next to nothing on computers, and really just sent their single expert into situations blind, with some scraped up semblance of an end goal. But she didn't mind. At least they trusted her expertise. But anyway, that was next step, and Pidge goes one step at a time.

They were being as quiet as possible, but this was a difficult stage to be quiet at. The paladins were still all together, and Shiro had just been boosted up to the air vent by Hunk. The Black Paladin traced a glowing artificial finger around the border of the air vent, and it popped out of it's socket with a smooth _click._ Hunk lowered him to the ground, making sure his feet landed softly enough to be silent, but also as fast as possible. They had to be quick - there were sentries traversing outside the hallway and another scheduled to enter the hallway any minute now. Lance stepped forward, and Hunk grabbed him around the waist. Lance and Pidge were ideal to be the centerpieces for this mission - Pidge was small and Lance was slender, they were perfectly fit to climb through an air vent. Once poised in the air, Lance scrambled to try and fit through the hole, clearly understanding how pressed for time they were. The hole was _very_ small, and the Yellow Paladin was clearly hesitant to try and shove Lance in himself. Luckily, Lance managed to get into a good position, and he pushed off of Hunks interlocked hands and began squirming through the hole. Pidge filed away the information as to how he managed to get into that position, and then she was standing on Hunk's hands, faced with the same problem. They were all clearly antsy at this point, Keith's hand shaking on the hilt of his drawn bayard and Shiro's eyes nervously flitting about the Galra corridor. One step at a time.

Pidge recalled Lance's first movements and braced her hands on the interior of the vent. The next part was to pull herself up so only her breastplate and upper body supported her, since Hunk was too far below at this point to provide a decent foothold for her small frame, and that's when it happened. She squirmed up and dropped her head and chest into the vent, and her mind was already moving onto the next task of climbing up the wall with her feet. Then the pain hit.

Her gasp was nearly silent, more surprised that pained. However, as she laid still, the pain began to increase. Lance's head was twisted uncomfortably, bright blue eyes giving her an alarmed look. She doubted the rest of the team even noticed her pause. It took her a total of two seconds to figure out _why the hell does my body beneath my breastplate hurt so bad and - oh._ She quickly began moving again, dropping her hands from the sides of the air vent to the bottom, lifting her chest up and relieving the pain. _Well shit._ She pushed off of Hunk's hands he had prepared for her and squirmed all the way into the air vent, careful to keep her hands beneath her breastplate. She shot Lance what she hoped was a reassuring smile, but he didn't receive it as he was already turning his head to wriggle through the passage. She heard their soft footsteps fade as Keith, Shiro and Hunk raced toward their next positions. She turned to replicate Lance's struggle through the vent, fixing her arms at her sides and dropping herself back to the bottom of the vent and _shit how did she forget that quickly!_ She sucked in a breath, but had came to a reasonable conclusion as to why her chest seemed to be twisting a knife into her and now wasn't quite as terrified as before. Still she was a bit pissed that it was happening _now_. She took a moment to reminisce on painfully awkward, half-complete health classes through all her years of school on Earth. Remembered constant assurances that her chest developing and becoming sore was normal. She then remembered a few awkward side-glances at the fact that at fourteen she had no noticeable breasts. But she hadn't cared - it ended up beneficial when she had to pose as a boy for her time at Galaxy Garrison. She recalled teachers explaining garments to wear and ease any pain - but unfortunately, Pidge's build led to her having no such garments until now that she actually needed them. And here she was. It had to happen sooner or later, though she still wished it had been later. Pidge had sucked in a deep breath, and squirmed after Lance, blatantly ignoring the pain.

Through a series of complex, cleverly disguised questions, Pidge later developed a loose understanding of why the weird magical paladin armor didn't automatically adapt to provide padding in the breastplate. It had already shown its ability to adapt and compensate for her - very slow - change in height over the past year, so why did it not do the same? She found eventually that when she and the other four first stood before the armor pods, the armor had read their minds as much as it read their bodies. Pidge had been focused so strongly on convincing the others of her false gender that the armor managed to pick up on it, and therefore could not alter pieces as fundamental as the breastplate - it was built for a male.

Or at least, that's the conclusion Pidge came to. It took a long time to get Coran to respond to her inquiries with anything beyond a somewhat lazy-sounding, "magic."

So then Pidge had two real options. Either make do with a too-tight breastplate and possibly permanently mess up her body due to not allowing it to properly grow, or find someone to help her get new armor. There were only a few people available to her to help though - Lance, Keith, Hunk, Shiro... and Coran and Allura.

If the idea of letting Lance know about this particular issue made her almost shudder, and the idea of letting Keith know about this particular issue made her obviously shudder, then the idea of letting Coran know about this particular issue made her violently convulse and have a seizure on the floor. Okay maybe not that bad, but it would definitely be... uncomfortable. She couldn't deny that she had almost began seeing Coran as a father-figure - or at least a weird space uncle - but she had a feeling that if she told him, he would begin waxing poetic about her trials and tribulations and likely start screaming and crying toward the end, which was pretty much the last thing Pidge needed. But Coran also knew his way around the castle, which was something she hadn't thought of previously... But _eugh_ she couldn't stomach the look that would surely be on his face.

Allura on the other hand... Allura... How hadn't she thought of Allura previously? Allura seemed to like Pidge, and showed her a tenderness she rarely directed toward the others unless in dire circumstances. Allura was the only other girl on board, and already the one Pidge came to for... other girl... issues. Allura was trustworthy, holding a bravery and strength Pidge had never before witnessed. Allura was considerate and smart enough to avoid making a huge production or letting everyone know Pidge's personal issues. And Allura probably knew the Castle like the back of her hand. Pidge finally reached the most logical conclusion.

She was seated at lunch. She shook herself out of the haze of her thoughts when she realized Shiro was speaking, but calmed when she realized Coran was the only one actually paying attention. The Black Paladin was debriefing on yesterday's mission, but even he seemed to be far more focused on eating. Keith and Lance were instead having what they probably thought was a discreet food fight, but their occasional enraged expressions and jerked movements beneath the table kind of gave it away. Hunk looked _extremely_ tired. was - was Hunk refereeing? Pidge didn't question it. He looked too tired for her to question it. She didn't want to bother him. Allura was sitting stoically, eating her food with a vague look in her eyes. That in itself was Allura's equivalent to not paying attention. Shiro didn't seem to mind. Coran was sitting across from Shiro, and as the younger reviewed the events of the previous day, the elder would occasionally burst into tears and wax poetic about their valiant efforts and bravery. Once everyone recovered from their shock at the noise, they would return to blatantly not caring. Coran still focused with rapt attention. Shiro finished his speech, probably pretty inspiring and motivational toward the end - but then again, nothing the team wasn't already used to. Hunk was the first to wander off - grinning, fist-bumping Lance, then retreating from the room. Keith followed shortly after, and Lance, seemingly realizing that the boy was the only thing keeping him entertained, returned to his own room. Coran eventually began rambling on how he was _so very sorry to leave, maintenance to tend to_ before withdrawing to some unknown corner of the castle no one else bothered to visit. Shiro, Allura, and Pidge were the final ones seated, all of whom had finished their meal and were engaged in an unintentional, quite awkward staring contest. Before, Pidge had always been one of the first to leave meals and tend to whatever computer program needed tending to, but she had a purpose this time, and wouldn't leave. Unfortunately the disruption of routine led to this awkward attempt to out-polite the others remaining seated. Finally, after what was apparently too long a silence, Shiro smiled and waved a goodbye. Pidge focused her gaze on Allura, who in turn, stared at Pidge. Pidge had at this point already prepared a detailed speech on exactly how and why she needed help.

"Is something wrong, Pidge?" Allura asked sweetly, what was hopefully genuine concern written all over her face. Allura must have noticed than Pidge hadn't anything on her plate for nearly ten minutes now. Unfortunately, the fact that Allura spoke first threw Pidge's entire speech askew, and she was left scrambling for an answer.

"Well- uh- I um," Pidge began stammering and _it isn't that embarrassing an issue stop making a mess of yourself_ and _Oh shit and now you're blushing._ Allura betrayed no emotion but - was that a smirk? That was definitely an upturn of her lips, Allura was totally smirking at her. The rest of her face remained a mask of concern and sincerity though, and Pidge had to admit to being impressed.

"Well... you know how I tried to present as a boy? Initially?" Pidge finally got a hold of herself. Allura nodded in confirmation, poker face still in place.

"And you know how the paladin armor reads both your mind and your body in order to determine the best size and shape?" Pidge continued, and to her relief the heat began retreating from her cheeks. Allura nodded again, not yet putting the pieces together.

"Well," Pidge paused for a moment longer than planned. "Uh, I think the armor read my mind more than it did my body; it's too small." Allura's poker face slipped, descending into confusion.

"That shouldn't be possible," Allura began. "It should adjust as you grow bigger, Pidge-"

"No I mean... My chest, the armor doesn't think I'm a girl," Pidge blurted and holy _shit_ why did she just interrupt the _Princess_ but it was too late to take it back as understanding dawned on Allura's face.

"Oh!" Allura exclaimed, seeming happy to have figured it out, "That would make sense."

Allura looked at Pidge, a pleased smile on her face, and the younger girl was quite relieved that humans and alteans have such similar anatomy, or else explaining this would have been a lot more difficult. Pidge's face was red again anyway.

"Follow me," Allura said smoothly, still with a smile, and she stood up with more grace than Pidge deemed should be physically possible. Stammer and reddened face aside, Pidge finds herself quite relieved that Allura was who she came to.

Allura walked toward a door Pidge hadn't ever found the purpose of. To the best of her knowledge, it was a storage room, considering it was lined with cleaning supplies and assorted metal devices even she'd never seen. It was probably the messiest part of the castle, Pidge couldn't remember seeing Coran walk through even once. But that was just where Allura led her.

Their footsteps echoed in the small, rectangular room, and a distant corner of Pidge's mind was faintly surprised at the echo despite the clutter. Their footsteps rang loud against the metal flooring, and Pidge scurried to catch up a few steps to where Allura glided briskly. It took a total of five seconds to reach the end of the room, and Pidge hadn't seen any trace of spare armor - if that was even what Allura intended to do. As far as Pidge knew Allura was taking her somewhere to hypnotize her until she wouldn't ever notice any pain correlated with growing.

Right before they smacked into the wall, Allura turned sharply and a door - hidden by a collection of something resembling altean brooms - opened automatically. Allura breezed through the doorframe and Pidge hastened beside her as the door shut behind them. Pidge's eyes widened - even if she had long since been exposed to the architectural strangeness of alteans, the fact that there was an entire hallway hidden and _she hadn't even realized it was there_ alarmed her. To their left was a smattering of doors similar to the one they entered through, and to their right a long octagonal window through which only stars and the blackness between showed. She looked back toward the left just as Allura turned and entered a seemingly random door. The door closed behind them. The next room was smaller than the first and held nothing but three more doors. Two of which were aimed toward the right and left and Pidge didn't see how they would lead to anything besides what the doors in the previous room did - maybe that was the point, though. Pidge made a serious mental note to explore later. _and bring a fucking map._ Allura didn't stop though, and she proceeded toward the door straight ahead, watching it flying open once again just before she rammed into it. Pidge took a moment to appreciate how comfortable Allura must feel with altean technology in order to only narrowly avoid running into doors constantly and still feel fine. Pidge's moment of acknowledgement almost made her fall to her death, as her feet were on autopilot and nearly tripped at the sudden appearance of steps.

The steps were big, and it took Pidge longer than she'd like to admit to adjust to taking such huge steps. Allura remained silent, but caught Pidge watching her out of the corner of her eye. She smiled, more enthusiastic than before, showing her teeth for probably the first time Pidge had ever seen. Pidge returned the smile with her standard buck-toothed grin, even if she was getting bored of walking. They sure kept spare armor far away. Pidge was once more startled by the arrant scale of the Castle and the architectural integrity involved. _But really if they were such geniuses architecturally why didn't they have some sort of elevator or conveyor or something to the spare armor? At **least** a zipline like there was to her lion would do._

_Finally_ the staircase flattened, leaving Pidge convinced this was the very bottom of the ship. Another door opened, and Pidge didn't miss how it took a moment to brighten up after Allura's arrival. It exposed a storage room far more cluttered than the first, and if Pidge thought the first was messy, then this was the aftermath of a hurricane. It only took her a moment to notice the obvious cracks and flaws of most of the articles there - The things down here were broken. In hindsight, Pidge supposed it made sense - the Castle of Lions was old, and she had a feeling that throwing broken machinery into space was frowned upon, especially so if it still had some use. Allura confidently strode into the room before her pace slowed and stopped before a pod mirroring the one Pidge had first received her armor from. On second glance, not mirroring - there was a large jagged crack running up the side. On _third_ glance, Pidge noticed that this was not the only pod - there were at least eight lined up against the walls throughout the large storage room. Allura smiled, and her gaze returned to Pidge.

"Here," she said, placing her hands on Pidge's shoulders.

"These things are old," she stated the obvious, "But they can still work. Now that you've told us your gender, and no longer have anything withheld from the pod's mind reading capabilities, it may redesign your armor to accommodate the way your body has changed and will change."

Allura's hands on her shoulders guided her in front of the bright blue pod. It whirred for a moment, and then anticlimactically _stopped_ whirring. Pidge looked back at Allura. Her eyes were narrowed and fixed a glare on the pod like it just personally insulted her ancestry. Allura's hands were tight on Pidge's shoulders as she guided the younger girl over a few metal devices with wires sticking out and to the closest pod. The duo didn't speak, even as three of the nine pods in the room refused to react. Allura seemed to grow increasingly frustrated, and Pidge found herself quite amused by the wrinkle in Allura's brow.

On the fourth pod, Allura's hands were clinging to Pidge's shoulders so tightly it was almost painful. The pod luckily lit up, which was more than the last two did. The whirring began, and Pidge was already so accustomed to the machines failure that she was almost surprised when green armor emerged from somewhere beneath the pod. Allura's face visibly lit up and her grip loosened monumentally as the pod's door swung open on its own. Allura beamed brighter than Pidge was pretty sure anyone else on the ship had ever seen. Though she would never admit it, she found herself very proud of being the sole person to witness the Princess's smile at the pod's functionality. With bright eyes and a vaguely mischievous smile, Allura released Pidge and held up the armor toward her instead. Pidge couldn't help smiling too, but hesitated when she realized the new armor looked exactly like her old set.

"But it doesn't look any different," Pidge conveyed her concerns. Allura's smile didn't falter.

"Don't worry, it wouldn't! Female and male armor actually always appeared quite similar on Altea. Just try it on!" Pidge did so.

Allura fixed a hand to her back when Pidge bent down to slip the black leather up over her legs and waist, and Pidge didn't shy away from the touch, instead relying on it to keep her from falling over. Allura's hand remained on her back when she clipped the thigh plating on, then released her when she squatted to clip the shinguard on. She sit to put on the rest, and when she reached to grab the foot piece, Allura was holding it out to her.

Pidge wouldn't lie - the armor wasn't actually that bad to put on when you weren't rushing to do so before someone blows up a planet or something. And when she clipped down the buckles on her breastplate to the pieces on her sides, Pidge didn't try to hide the slight widening of her eyes. She lifted her fully armored arms up over her head, then reached them behind her. _It didn't hurt._ She turned to see Allura who was seated improperly, resting her chin on one hand and her body weight on the other hand. The Princess didn't look quite like what her title implied when she sported wide eyes and a nearly demonic grin in her happiness. Pidge wasn't bothered by the immaturity - not in the slightest, and quickly found her own smile nearly mirrored the other girl's.

"So?" Even if her body language wasn't mature, her voice was as smooth and rich as ever. Pidge grinned - having her armor fit is... A lot nicer than she figured. 

"Good."

They exited together, and Allura seemed to recognize Pidge's desire to keep her new requirements from the boys on board. However there wasn't really a better way to hide the new armor than physically holding it behind their backs and hoping nobody would come across them.

As she changed back into standard clothes, Pidge had placed the differences in design. Most noticeable is the breastplate - though it appeared almost the same on the outside, the inside had thick padding between the underclothes and the metal, soft enough to avoid any pain from outside pressure. The other differences were far more minor - namely padding around the hips - even if she didn't have any notable hips now, the armor seemed to think she will sooner or later. That and the leather material that made up the underclothes and reached mid-waist was tighter on her. She was quite happy about that - she never understood the loose material around the thighs, but she knew it was annoying.

Both Pidge and Allura strode with slight hunches, their bodies reflecting their desperate attempt to be sneaky. Allura looked like a kid playing spies. Pidge probably didn't look very different. They made quite the duo - Pidge wasn't entirely sure when in their trip they developed the playful atmosphere, or when spending time with Allura became fun, but she didn't complain. When they reached the hallway with the window toward space, Allura led them opposite to the direction they came. The unfamiliar passage eventually led Pidge through a door she had seen dozens of times yet never explored. It exposed the passage between the rooms of the paladins and where they suited up in their armor to fight. This was familiar territory - if any one of the boys caught the two girls anywhere, it would probably be around here, and the fact put Pidge far more on edge. (She knew she was getting extremely worked up about the missions, and was probably taking what was akin to a spies game a bit too far. She knew it wouldn't be anything near the end of the world if they were caught - she could probably come up with an excuse without breaking a sweat, and even if she couldn't, she also knew the boys would all be relatively understanding and supportive of her differences. But hell, sneaking around like a criminal was _fun._ )

They reached the armor storage. The armor was split by color and shoved into different corresponding alcoves, seeing as none of the Paladins had been wearing their armor then. Allura reached for Pidge's alcove and the younger girl caught on. She handed the female armor in her own arms to Allura, opened the door herself, pulled the male armor out of the alcove, and held the door open with her foot as the Princess piled all the female pieces of armor into the old armor's place. Now holding only male armor, Pidge shoved a few of the garments into Allura's hands and she took off toward the bedrooms, Pidge following.

The ran down the right hallways, Pidge glad to finally be familiar with where she was in the castle. It was only when they reached the large door opening into the hallway containing the bedroom doors that they both froze, breathing hard. They weren't close enough for the door to open on it's own, but a few steps more and they would be. They exchanged a look. Had they always standing so close to each other? Pidge didn't think they had been standing so close together when they were going toward the storage rooms.

Both of them knew opening the door would be risky - unless they were immensely careful with their noise level, any of the Paladins currently in their rooms would hear them. Allura took a deep breath, then stepped forward and the door opened. They both unconsciously made what was probably the stereotypical sneaking pose and they walked through the doorway and into the hallway. And that's when four things happened in rapid succession. The door closed behind them, they noticed their own poses, they noticed their partner's pose, and then they both burst into giggles. A moment after that, they both realized they were making noise and shushed each other. There were no fingers against lips, seeing as both of them had their hands full of armor, but they did stand there giggling and shushing for a tad longer than they would later admit. Finally they calmed themselves and proceeded across the hallway.

Their footsteps seemed far louder than they really were, so they glided across the hallway with as much grace as they could muster. Every time they passed a door, both of them would tense and then relax a moment later. About ten seconds later, they would repeat the process, arms tightening around their burdens. It was around then that the implications of the way Allura was acting began to sink in for Pidge.

They had known each other for an entire year. And yet Pidge hadn't ever made a move to get to know the Princess. She had watched as Shiro, Hunk, and even eventually Keith strived to get to know her to some extent. Lance, of course, had tried his special way of getting to know her from literally the moment he saw her first, but he was mostly just shot down repeatedly. But Pidge on the other hand... She... hadn't really tried anything. She had always been introverted, then far more so when she lost her family and her single-minded personality drifted toward locating them and only that. And after disguising herself as a boy for her time at the Galaxy Garrison she reached a point where she consciously tried to avoid any and all conversation. Afterall, if she was found out, she could be sent back home, and then where would she be on her quest to locate her father and brother? Then, one seemingly random day, she found a lion in the desert and her world had been upside down since. She liked to think that once she admitted her gender, she had grown more open to connection with the rest of her team, but the stagnant growth in her relationship with Allura seemed to say otherwise. Pidge knew that she had always seen Allura as she presented herself on the surface - the way she acted in training exercises, the way she acted as a commander. And due to this, Pidge reached the conclusion that the Princess wasn't someone she _needed_ to get to know. And Pidge was only now realizing that she was wrong. Pidge had to open herself up in order to achieve her goal, and now, Allura was returning the favor. Allura was allowing Pidge to see through her carefully sculpted demeanor, and Pidge allowed Allura to do the same.

And Pidge _actually really liked it._

Finally, the duo crept out of the hallway, the door shutting behind them. Blue eyes met brown, and then, once more, they both burst into laughter. They were still too close to the door to be loud, though, and they instead began to sprint away, Pidge falling behind the Princess as she started toward a direction the younger girl was less familiar with. They continued to laugh, though it faded into sporadic giggles at themselves and their own strange behavior. Eventually they finally reached near silence again, and their sprint faded into a walk.

"Where are we going with these?" Pidge asked, casually shaking the collection of armor precariously balanced in her arms.

"The Incinerator," Allura responded equally casually, seemingly not noticing the way Pidge's eyes widened to the size of quarters. _Alteans sure didn't do anything half-assed_

They were near the first turn Pidge wouldn't recognize when it happened. The duo heard footsteps and froze, panicked eyes locking. They didn't have time to hide, and instead threw their loads behind their backs as carefully as possible. Pidge took the initiative and leaned against the nearest wall casually, and Allura seemed to think that was a good idea, for she replicated it a second later.

Hunk wandered into the corridor, dressed in pajamas. He froze and stared at the girls, looking them up and down. Pidge supposed they were quite the sight, ruffled and red-faced from laughter, quite obviously holding something behind their backs and leaning against a random wall in the middle of the Castle like they thought it looked casual. He blinked. He looked very tired.

"What are you guys doing," It was a statement, not a question. Allura and Pidge both had their eyes blown wide.

"W- Uh- Um... Wh- What are you doing!?" Pidge stammered with needless aggression. Allura gave her a proud look. Hunk blinked at them again.

Hunk then sighed and walked away, not looking back.

He must have been be _really_ tired.

They proceeded to stalk away with the armor.

Allura turned corners Pidge hadn't ever seen, and the similar floor and walls regardless of the location led the younger girl to believe that it was actually _intended_ to be a maze. Their footsteps echoed, and it took a total of thirty seconds for Pidge to become lost by the time Allura was turning corners before she even got two feet forward in the previous direction.

When Pidge was convinced that there was no end to the winding metallic labyrinth, they arrived at a large metal door, bigger than any other door the duo had come across. It was the standard design, but over twice as tall as Pidge. Allura looked at her, smiled, and walked toward the door. Pidge noticed how much easier smiles were coming to her own face.

Allura's movements were so casual Pidge almost laughed. The room was huge, dim and cavernous, and the normally cool metal was hot beneath her feet despite the thick soles of her boots. Allura breezily floated toward a large control panel before a large, flat, empty expanse of metal. Pidge creeped along beside her, and Allura handed the armor in her arms to the smaller girl. Pidge didn't complain, instead watching as Allura punched buttons and corresponding symbols showed up on a small black screen. After a glowing sequence of symbols finished appearing on the screen, Allura reached to her right and slammed her fist on the biggest button there was. Allura happily watched her face as Pidge's eyes went wide. The floor opened before them, the flat expanse of ground splitting into two pieces and slowly retracting into the sides. If the room was hot before, it was sweltering then, because beneath where the panels were was _lava._ And as Pidge stared at the glowing field of fire lapping up at the boundaries with the ship's movement, even knowing it was, to some extent, a practical means of disposal, Pidge had only one thought. _Why the **fuck** is this on a spaceship._

"Ready?" Allura asked her sweetly, trying and failing to stay expressionless as Pidge opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Seemingly realizing that Pidge probably wouldn't move for the next twenty minutes on her own, Allura strode to her side and removed a few garments from Pidge's arms and into her own. Allura took a step forward, all the way up to a white line encircling the opening and Pidge realized _oh that's probably why it's there, so nobody falls and burns alive._ Allura looked over her shoulder and called the name of her accomplice. She snapped to attention, taking shaky steps to the Princess's side. With a smile and no further words, Allura chucked the outdated male armor into the fire and watched as Pidge did the same to her left.

And with that, Allura wiped her hands on the sides of her dress, beaming like a ray of sun. She pushed the same button and the sequence of symbols faded from the screen as the panels closed over the lava. She looked at Pidge.

"Isn't... Isn't that a safety hazard?" Pidge mumbled, staring where the fire used to be. Allura giggled.

They retreated from the maze in comfortable silence, Pidge still not quite over the fact that there was a pit of fucking lava on a spaceship. They parted outside Pidge's room, and pretended they hadn't just played spies again for no real reason in order to get there. Allura explained how she needed to locate Coran and talk long-term strategy, and Pidge nodded in confirmation. They locked eyes again and shared a smile, and Pidge had determined by that point that she absolutely loved to see Allura's smile with teeth. Allura turned to leave, but Pidge called out to her.

"Wait! Thank you Allura," Pidge grinned, desperate to pour as much sincerity into four words as physically possible. Allura returned the favor with the cutest, most genuine smile that day.

 

The next day, Allura and Coran woke everybody up near four in the morning for a surprise training session. They stumbled through the practice, bodies slumped and worn but eyes as sharp as ever. They defend each other from projectiles to the furthest level they can reach, and all the while Allura's voice screamed for _more energy!_ or _protect your teammates, Keith!_ or _eyes open, Hunk!_ or _your grip is slacking, Pidge!_

Pidge stumbled toward the sidelines of the training room with sluggish legs and blurry eyesight. Allura's debriefing was harsh, voice sharp and words biting. But when she called for everyone to return to bed, she met Pidge's eyes. And like a spark lit in them, they began to glow. Pidge felt her back straighten as she fixed the Princess with a smile through her own eyes. 

So maybe being the only female paladin sucked, but with Allura on her side, it wasn't _quite_ as bad.

**Author's Note:**

> i am a Problematic Lesbian but i dont ship those two enough to warrant any huge romantic subtext in this?? so yeah i want you to make your own decision as to whether this is super romantic or totally platonic, i really dont mind, nor will i say what i had in mind while writing this so you can interpret it for yourself
> 
> tl;dr is this allura x pidge????? whO KNOWS!


End file.
